With the monopoly that is McDonald’s, it would prove difficult to avoid its advertising campaign, whatever medium being used.  Clearly the fast food chain has never struggled to have effective marketing, but a new campaign for McCafe in the form of billboards reaffirms the statement of their dominance in advertising.

                Primarily copy, the billboards target financially exhausted Americans weary of the struggling economy and disgusted with the price of coffee growing exponentially like oil.  Like music to their ears, the billboards present lyrics that sing into the heart of any distressed American dying for a cup of coffee but not at the price of a precious limb.  Satirically serenading about the expensive prices of café chains like Starbucks, McCafe proudly competes with quality found with affordability, in another word, value.

                One such billboard of the aforementioned McCafe campaign states plainly, “I’m a coffee lover, not a millionaire”.  This is a powerful message for the early morning commuter looking for a cup of consciousness that won’t make the first few hours of pay a written check to the nearest coffee shop.  The sardonic humor in the single sentence says so much to the consumer.  The economy may be down, your wallet may be tight, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your morning caffeine, or the taste.

                There aren’t many opportunities to take advantage of a suffocating economy, but if one company could pull it off with a single sentence, it would be McDonald’s.

Twitter. Even Buckingham Palace is on board.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace announced, Friday, that the Royal Family's is now on Twitter.  She said that Tweets would serve as a news and information service used to share lists of engagements and website updates.

"The Queen has been advised that it's up and running but there won't be any members of the Royal Family tweeting," she said.

On 12 Jul 11:00: Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace http://www.royal.gov.uk/G.

Gallery: The Princess Royal chats to a guest during a garden party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace to... http://www.royal.gov.uk/Dfabout 1 hour ago from Royal Household

On 9 Jul: Prince William - will watch the British Women's Team play Slovakia in the LEN European Nations... http://www.royal.gov.uk/DW

Interested?

You can follow the Royals @BritishMonarchy, but don't expect The Royal Family to follow you. As of date they have 6008 followers. They are following zero. Hmmm, maybe the Queen needs a lesson on Twitterquette.

Open up your daily paper and you might see a full page ad that reads:  Tylenol- The safest brand of pain reliever you can choose. 

On June 30th, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the risk of acetaminophen consumption and its toll on the liver.  The FDA proposes to tighten current dosing instructions and control the number of acetaminophen products on the market.  Citing that after only two weeks of daily use, livers tested show signs of damage.

In light of the FDA investigation challenging the current market of over-the-counter acetaminophen, Tylenol has launched a campaign to protect its brand.  Johnson and Johnson is promoting the product worldwide, but has added a tag line:  you take more than the recommended dose … you can cause serious liver injury.

Over the years, Johnson and Johnson has been a leader in crisis management.  Johnson and Johnson's handling of the 1982 Tylenol crisis has become a staple in public relations education.  It exemplifies the power of proactive public relations.  Johnson and Johnson was on cue and on target.  Though they pulled their product temporarily, the Tylenol brand was saved and, in fact, stronger than ever before. 

Is Johnson and Johnson's current campaign proactive or reactive?  Are they doing what is right or are they looking out for number one? 

"Following a successful run, the 9-year-old O has struggled on the newsstand lately. In the second half of 2008, its total paid circulation declined 1.7 percent to 2.4 million, with single copy sales down 25.2 percent to 625,961.

So far this year, O has missed its rate base twice, by 5.1 percent and 4 percent, respectively, per the Audit Bureau of Circulations. O also has been challenged on the ad front, with pages down 30.7 percent to 694 this year through its July issue, per Mediaweek Monitor," reported Lucia Moses of Media Week.

As interactive media takes center stage, traditional and print media are experiencing significant declines in sales and readership.  Publications that are now on the web are drawing more followers than ever. 

Despite a drop in print sales, Hearst Magazine is reaping the rewards of the web.  A February 2009 report indicated that Hearst boosted web traffic by 150% after implementing a SEO and Wordtracker campaign.

In less than a decade, online capabilities have allowed companies to target audiences and draw traffic that is unattainable in the print industry. 

To learn more about the strides in online viewership and the rewards of well-implemented SEO see the articles below:

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3i5f3b44e890b8e56f0eac7436ac553aa3
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/hearst-magazine-increased-web-traffic-by-150-with-seo-and-wordtracker/

As America is celebrating its 233rd birthday this weekend, it is impossible not to notice the dramatic changes in society from the stories of old.  Over the last two centuries communication has evolved from the handcarved quill pens, powdered ink and parchment paper used to create the Declaration of Independence to the finely tuned CPU and Internet that allow 140 character Tweets to spread to millions at the click of a button.  The ease of sharing and spreading information is remarkably greater.   Is the art of molding a message the same or has it changed over the years too?

The long told story of our founding father's bravery and defense of the American people and the fight for the desire of the nation is slightly inaccurate.  In fact, a large portion (more than 20%)of the population was opposed to the Revolution.  The brutalities and poor leadership by the officers on the Colonial side would have generated even more negative opinion had the images and stories been passed along to the average person.  However, a few good talkers turned the image around and made the public believe in the Revolutionary cause.

Let's look back at America's original PR team lead by the renowned Ben Franklin. 

On November 29, 2005, Congress established the Committee of Correspondence to communicate with Colonial agents in Britain and "friends in other parts of the world."  Much of the committee's responsibility revolved around diplomacy and the ironing out of agreements surrounding trade.  As the committee's responsibilities expanded they changed the name to the Committee for Foreign Affairs in 1777 to handle war related issues and international relationships.  On the top of their list was building support on the homefront to fuel the Revolution.

Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense" in 1776.  This was one of the first pieces of written communication in American history and is thought to have kicked off the American Revolution.

John Jay, the sixth member of the Committee, orchestrated the composition of more than 85 essays called the "Federalist Papers" to gain support for the constitution. These papers led to the ratification of the constitution of the United States of America in 1976.  The authors of these papers were later considered the fathers of this nation.  The "Federalist Papers" serve as guides to interpretation of the constitution in courtrooms today.

Though messages were written by quill, they were lasting.  Delivered by foot or horseback, they were direct and genuine.  The work of our forefathers has shaped the nation that we live in today.  As communication technique has evolved, one thing has remained the same: the absolute power of public relations.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “In a truly democratic society, everything depends on the consent of the public."

Without PR, we would not be celebrating our independence today.